No One Else

I am what I hate
Infested with sin
When I open the gate
And let the demon in

That old man dies
Uncountable times
Yet he still tries
To commit more crimes

Against God and man
And who I love most
I hate the plan
Of which he boasts

To hunt and destroy
And make me a slave
Stealing away my joy
As he digs my grave

Lust of the eye
And lust of the mind
Ways that I die
Aren't hard to find

It feels so good
Feeding lies and hype
But I know I should
Want a different type

Of passionate thought
Than this spiritual heist
Because I have been bought
By the blood of Christ

Help Jesus, there's no on else
Who can save me from myself

John And Jesus

Around the time of Jesus' ministry on earth, students of a particular teacher would serve them. If they lived today, they'd get their Starbucks, pick up their dry cleaning, and wash their car. There, however, was one job they would not touch with a ten foot pole -- untie the teacher's sandals and was his feet. That job was left for the lowest of slaves.

Enter John the baptizer, who says that he is preparing the way for the Lord and told people to bear fruit that lines up with repentance from sin, rather than relying on their ancestry to be right with God. Some people think he might be the messiah, the savior, the one promised in prophecy that people were expectantly waiting for.

What does John say to this? "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Luke 3:16) So John says that there is someone coming, and he is not worthy to untie his sandals, the job relegated to the lowest of slaves in that culture. The one to come must be great, indeed.

That one is Jesus. So what does Jesus say about John? "I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John." (Luke 7:28a) So, by Jesus' description, John the baptizer is the greatest man that has ever lived. Yet, John is not worthy to untie Jesus' sandals.

Now fast forward a bit to the Last Supper. What does Jesus do? He washes the feet of his disciples. He does the job of the lowest of slaves, yet he is the one who is much greater than the greatest person that ever lived. Why? Mark records Jesus saying to his disciples "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:42b-45)

So to be great, those who follow Christ must not be great as those in the world attempt to demonstrate greatness, but rather as Jesus demonstrates greatness -- through serving others in humility. The first glorifies a man; the second glorifies God, and Jesus is all about glorifying God.

For the one who does this and belongs to Jesus, it's good news, as "the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than [John]." (Luke 7:28b) The lowest in Jesus' kingdom is greater than the greatest person who ever lived. That's awesome.

So how does one get into the kingdom then? How does one belong to Jesus? How does one find the ability to live a life for God and others instead of a life for self? He doesn't do it through his own strength, that's for sure. He does it through the power of God's Spirit in him -- the result of a transformed heart, mind, and life.

As Jesus told Nicodemus, "I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). Make no mistake, a man cannot brag that it was his own decision to "become born again" -- rather, it is God doing the transforming work in a person's life, for "the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)

So what do you do if you are not a born again believer in Jesus Christ who has had his heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh that wants to live and die for God? Agree with God that you are in fact a sinner with no hope of saving yourself, and then turn from your sin to Jesus, who paid the price for your sin so that you don't have to. Ask him to save you. He doesn't say "no" to that.

Let's recap:

- John the baptizer is the greatest guy who ever lived
- If you're in God's kingdom, you're greater than John
- Jesus, bringer of the kingdom, was the ultimate example of a servant leader
- We're supposed to be like Jesus
- The only way to be like Jesus is to be born again
- The only way to be born again is to repent and trust Jesus for salvation

See, the external is not enough. Jesus helps fix the problem at the core -- our hearts, the internal. Jesus gives us a heart for God, a heart for him. If you don't have that, you might just be externally religious, looking good to men on the outside but dead on the inside. That's worse than being externally wicked, looking bad to men on the outside. If you're in the latter category, repent of your sin and turn to Jesus. If you're in the former category, repent of your religion and turn to Jesus.

There's a lot of variety in what a man may need to turn from -- but there is only one he needs to turn to.

Grace and peace, friends.

Do What For Who?

I was listening to a co-worker at lunch today describe some of the annoyances and other issues going on in his life. I've heard similar accounts a time or two before and couldn't help but think later "man, he needs Jesus in his life." Now that I say it, I wonder how many times one of my Christian brothers, and former co-worker, thought the same thing about me. This person is not very receptive to Christianity from what I can tell, and I admittedly don't try to steer any conversation in that direction with him. In my own weakness and self-righteousness, I admit I don't really care to have him in the lunch group because of the attitude I perceive he has toward Christianity -- as well as the worldly topics of conversation.

Now that I write it, it sounds like I have too much of a religious attitude that I need to repent of and get dealt with. After all, it was the Pharisees and teachers of the law who were the worst ones in Jesus' day -- and he told them to repent as well, being the worst ones enslaved by pride.

But that particular shortcoming is not what I wanted to deal with in this post -- rather it is my lame motivation behind the thinking "man, you need Jesus in your life." In this case, and others, I thought a person needed Jesus in his or her life because of some issue or attitude -- usually having to do with relationships with other people. While it is true that being transformed by God's Spirit can certainly improve strained relationships, that is absolutely the wrong motivation for coming to Christ.

I am somewhat sickened that the attitude revealed here reminds me of false teacher Joel Olsteen and his message that God just wants you to be rich, healthy, and have good relationships. What a load of crap. How was Jesus' relationship with people? Well, his family thought he was crazy during his earthly ministry. Many of his followers left him when he said something too tough for them to swallow. He was continually at odds with the religious leaders, who eventually murdered him because he claimed to be God.

When speaking about how people should view him, Jesus said "I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:35-37)

Clearly, Jesus is not all about fixing our personal relationships. He is all about us repenting of our sin and coming into a relationship with him, and God the Father through him.

And that is what the motivation for pointing someone to Jesus should be. It should not be "hey man, turn to Jesus, he can make stuff in your life better." Jesus can do that, but that doesn't mean he will. In fact, some things might get a whole lot worse, depending on your perspective. After all, those who hate Jesus don't care much for his followers, either. Think about the typical Hindu or Muslim on the other side of the world who is the first in their family to come to Christ -- it is not going to go well for them, considering how coupled religion, culture, and family are in much of the non-western world.

So again, our motivation should not be "Jesus can fix some of your problems" but rather "Jesus has already fixed the one big problem." He is, after all, Lord and Savior, not Genie and Magician.

Shalom, friends.

Obedience

God threw this one to me today so I thought I'd share

Jesus said "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15)

If we're believers, what do we think when we hear that? A typical response I think is something like "Okay God, I love you, I'll keep your commandments." We better get the gospel when we say that, because if we don't get the gospel, one of two things will happen.

- Thing 1. Pride. We'll do well, in some areas, and say "Look how good I'm keeping A, B, and C compared to those other people. Man, I rock!" Never mind D through Z.

- Thing 2. Despair. We'll recognize our miserable failure to do what we said and give up. "I can't do this, it's hopeless for me!"

We need to get the gospel.

Jesus didn't say "To be saved, keep my commandments." He said "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." If you just read that as "Obedience doesn't matter" that is NOT what I said. Hold your thought and keep reading. Let's focus on the first part -- "If you love me..."

Well how do you get to the point of loving God?

"We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." (1 John 4:19-21)

How did God first love us?

"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:16-17)

"God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

So God first loved us through the cross. When we repent of our sins and turn to Jesus for our salvation, we get a new heart, a new nature -- one that desires God above all things. It is from this new nature that we can truly love God, and demonstrate it through obedience, which includes loving others.

But let me try to be very clear -- this obedience from the new nature is not a "try really hard to show my love" thing. It's a "by my new nature I will obey, because I love God" thing.

Or to put it another way getting rid of that pesky and confusing "you will" and clarifying the meaning:

"If you love me, you better keep my commandments to show it." No.

"If you love me, you're going to keep my commandments." Yes.

Not getting this right leads to works based self-righteousness that focuses on ourselves and what we do. It makes our perception of God's love for us, and possibly our state of salvation, dependent on our performance. That's evil.

Getting this right leads to to grace based Christ-righteousness that focuses on God and what he did. It makes our perception of God's love for us, and our state of salvation, dependent on the cross. That's good. That's God.

Hoarder

Ever see that show Hoarders? It's quite the look into the lives of people with great unhealthy attachments to things and trying to break them away from it and get their homes or property cleaned up. There was a burst of time in my life when I watched it a lot, and in that time I saw episodes about people completely attached to animals, collections, projects, day to day things, food, and even complete junk and trash. Cleaning crews, psychologists, and "professional organizers" were brought in to help with the situations. Some of the time there was success in cleaning up a home or property, but despite that, more often than not, the deeper issue of attachment remained unsolved.

With the light and knowledge I have graciously received in my life, I couldn't help but think when watching "All your prattle and rationalization amounts to nothing -- these people are, almost certainly unknowingly, trying to get their fulfillment, or their hope, or their security, or whatever else, from the wrong source. What they need is the power of Jesus Christ to break them away from idolatry and sin and give them a new life."

That is, after all, what he did for me in my own life. I was seeking fulfillment from all kinds of things, trying to fill a hole in my heart that only God could fill. I just didn't know it until he broke into my life, showed me my sin, and ripped me away from myself -- granting me repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Praise God for that!

Now what about the sin in my life and how it relates to the topic? There were definitely attachments associated with that sin, but was I a hoarder? Let's look.

One of the sins of my past that totally wrecked my head was adultery. I've cheated on my wife countless times with countless women through the magic of the Internet and my own jacked up imagination. But not only did I do that, I collected them. I had the modern day equivalent of the stack of Playboys on my hard drive -- except I could fit a whole lot more of a whole lot worse on there. Before I was really born again, I believed in God and would try to make deals with him. "I'll delete all this if you do that. I won't get any more, I promise." Yeah, that lasted about what, 2 seconds? The Jesus hole was still in my heart, and my efforts were my own and with wrong motive. So of course I was bound to fail and fail back into hoarding porn. One tick mark for "hoarder".

Aside from being an adulterer, I was also a thief. Do you know how many pirated programs and songs I had on my computer? I don't either, but it was a LOT. Did I try to rationalize it? Absolutely not. I knew it was stealing and I was proud of it. Crap I didn't even use or listen to. It looks like that was hoarding too. Two more tick marks for "hoarder" -- one for the software and one for the music.

That's three strikes already. I'd have to say based on the evidence that I was definitely a hoarder.

Does it matter to identify the old man like that? Probably not. I just think it's interesting that in my old nature I had the same mentality about digital things that the people on this show had about physical things. Looking on the outside in, no would would peg me as a hoarder, because the outward appearance wasn't there, but the internal thought processes and attachments were the same.

I also find it interesting that, in either case, the outward signs of such a mentality are pointers to a deeper problem that plagues all men -- our sinful nature. That kind of deeper problem cannot be solved by man. It can be ignored, excused, or rationalized, so that a person "feels better" about being broken. However, a real solution can only come from God through repentance and faith in his Son, Jesus Christ.

French Hookers

I read this account in a book I borrowed and absolutely love it.

An acquaintance told me about Dr. Francis Schaeffer, a great Christian scholar with whom he was studying in Europe. Dr. Schaeffer decided to take a weekend off to visit Paris with a couple of his students. One night as they strolled the streets of Paris, they saw a prostitute on a street corner. To the student's horror, they watched their mentor walk right up to the woman.

He said, "How much to you charge?"

"Fifty dollars."

He eyed her up and down and said, "Nah, that's too little."

"Oh yeah, for Americans, it's one hundred fifty dollars."

He stepped back again, "That's still too low."

She quickly said, "Uhh, oh yeah, the weekend rate for Americans is five hundred dollars."

"No, that's still too cheap."

By this time she was a little irritated. She said, "What am I worth to you?"

He responded, "Lady, I couldn't possibly pay you what you are worth, but let me tell you about someone who already has."

The two men watched as their mentor -- right then and there -- knelt with her on the sidewalk and led her in a prayer to commit her life to Christ.

That's the end of the story. I don't know what happened to the woman after. Maybe it was just the emotion of the moment that she got caught up in and she's on the streets today. Maybe she's the most zealous Christ follower in her part of the world, letting his light shine through her everywhere she goes.

But that's not really the point. The point of the story for me is not the woman, but how the man saw the woman. As one of Shane Claiborne's college buddies has put it in the past -- Jesus never spoke to a prostitute. What?! That's right. He never spoke to a prostitute because he never saw one -- all he saw was a child who was lost and needed to come home.

Weird Thankfulness

I'm pretty thankful for my blatantly sinful past, and I'm pretty thankful for the "good life" I had (by the world's standards) when I was rescued by Jesus Christ. I know that sounds weird. That's probably because I'm a little weird. But allow me to explain.

I'm thankful for my blatantly sinful past, because it allows for a grand marker to be placed right in the middle of my life. If you drew my life out on a timeline, the first part would be labelled the hell bound old man and the second part would be labelled the heaven bound new man. I do not remember the date I cried out to Jesus Christ to save me, but I remember the day. I remember that before that day that I wanted to just fill my life with more pornography (the kind that makes Playboy look like the Conservative Amish Dress Catalog) and Mario Kart (5 hours a day at times) and was proud of all the time and money I was able to waste on absolutely nothing. I remember that after that day I wanted to just know about God more and more, and then I wanted to serve God more and more, and I'm in the spot where I want to know God more and more. I can without a doubt say that I was born again of the Spirit of God and am a new creation.

What could my life have looked like if I had been going to church since I was much younger? I might learn "moral deism" -- I'd know all the "right stuff" and stay away from the "bad stuff" and think I'm saved. I would learn how to speak "Christianese" and do the "Christian church stuff" and think I'm so awesome. How terrible! I would then unwittingly put salvation in my own hands and crap on the cross of Christ. I'm not saying that happens to everyone, but it happens to a lot of people -- people who may have good doctrine, may look like they live moral lives, may memorize a ton of scripture, may go to the Bible study, and so on -- but have no clue about the amazing grace of the gospel. I pass no judgment on the poor man or woman in this situation -- I say it so that you may check yourself and see if that's you. If it is, get out and run straight for the cross! The truth is, we're all a mess, even if we don't see it.

I'm also thankful for the "good life" I had (by the world's standards), because it took away my excuse for turning away when things "got better". Let's say I was in serious debt, or had lost my job, or my kid died, or some other terrible thing happened to me that I needed God to help me with. Say he did and I threw up a "yay God!" I might follow God for a while, sort of, doing the "Christianese" thing, and then fall away. Why? Because I might care more about the temporal gift than the eternal gift. I'd be happy God saved me from my debt, or got me a job, or eased my pain -- but I'd fail to realize what I really needed him to save me from was my sin. The fact that I had it "good" by the world's standards left no opportunity for that -- Jesus came in and ripped me away from sin and from sin alone.

Don't get me wrong on these. God works in amazing and different ways in everyone's life. Someone else could easily be in my "what if" and come out just fine in Christ, with their own marker standing on something I have just put to the side. Praise God for that! Being able to look at my incredible brokenness and lack of worldly need work well for me to mark the time of my transformation -- your story may be very different.

Binary

Some things are just binary in nature. A person can't be kind of pregnant, and a person can't be sort of dead. Neither can a person be kind of saved. There is a path to life and a path to destruction, and to be on the path to life we all ultimately need a new heart, which comes from Christ.

Spirituality, religion, moral behavior, good deeds, and so on, will not do it. It's not about how much you pray, how regularly you attend church or read a holy book. It's not about how well you toe the line and follow the rules. It's not about how much money you give to charity or how much time you give to volunteer. It's about a complete transformation from the inside out.

I don't say this from some high horse. I say this as a sinful, rough, and broken person, who was on the path of destruction destined for hell -- despite thinking for years that I was "a good person" who worked hard, took care of my family, and avoided "really bad" things. God in his mercy drew me in, shook me up, and showed me both my sin and my inability to pay for it. It was only then that I cried out to Jesus to save me, at which point he completely changed my heart, my mind, and my life.

So when I say these things, it's not about my way is better than your way. It's not about selling religion or cramming the Bible down down someone's throat. It's about how dire my situation was, and how dire everyone's situation is without turning to the only one who can solve the problem.

Want life? Get Jesus!

A Tale Of Two Gangsters

Today I want to talk about some gangsters. Yeah, gangsters. Two of them in particular.

The first is Mikey Cohen. More than a half century ago, Cohen was involved in all kinds of bad stuff and hung around all kinds of bad people. But then later in his life he met Billy Graham at one of his gatherings. He made a public confession of Jesus Christ there. Awesome! But wait. He kept being involved in all kinds of bad stuff and still hung around all kinds of bad people.

What's up with that?

Some Christians confronted him about this. He responded that no one told him he had to change his lifestyle -- there's Christians football players and Christian politicians, so why not Christian gangsters? If he had to give up his lifestyle, he was out, fuhget-about-it!

I think he missed something big there.

Fast forward a couple of decades to our second gangster, Michael Franzeese. Talk about a Saul to Paul story! He went from big shot in the Colombo family -- making more money for a crime family since Al Capone -- to born-again Christian and motivational speaker. It wasn't a big tent revivial that God used here, but a dancer named Camille Garcia. He goes around today sharing his transformation with church congregations and also speaks to professional and student athletes about the dangers of gambling. I've seen his testimony on a DVD from when he came to speak at a church here in San Diego, and what a story he has to tell.

Maybe that doesn't sound like much, but consider that a big wig in the mafia breaking with the family usually has nasty side effects -- death, for example. He risked his life to put away the only lifestyle he knew for something greater, service to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Clearly Mike #2 had a much different encounter with Christ than Mike #1.

Again, what's up with that?

I can't answer anything about why one person was truly changed and one was not, but I can make this observation:

When you are really saved, really born again, really a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, guess what? You're changed. Completely. From the inside out. The Bible calls you a new creation, for the is exactly what you are.

So what can we learn from this?

First, I think it says something about the superficial and the emotional. Yeah, sure, man, I don't want to go to hell! Sign me up for the Jesus bus! Okay, but how's your walk with the Lord 10 years later? 5 years? 1 year? 1 month?

Second, I think it says something about evidence of faith. When we have real faith in Christ, we put him first. He's "Lord" not "Some dude". If our lifestyle is more important than serving Christ, we've got a problem. If anything has wrapped around our hearts and taken over our lives, it has become our god. We have to guard against that. I know this first hand. There are things in this life I enjoy that I get really really into -- I must be wary not to let them become idols in my life.

Finally, I think it says something about the power of God. But don't get me wrong here, I'm not knocking Billy Graham and his methods. I'm not knocking anyone's methods. My point is that no matter how much enthusiasm and money is piped into something, no matter how good the intellectual arguments are, no matter how much Christians love a program or an event -- nothing, absolutely nothing, takes the place of the Spirit of God working in the heart and mind of the unsaved person.

God has to do the work from inside to effect real change on the outside -- anything that starts from the outside in is bound to fail, period.

Praise God for salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and his Spirit living in all believers!

Grace and Peace friends.

In What We Trust?

I read the first part of 1 Samuel 4 tonight. An interesting story there about a boneheaded decision the Israelites made. Don't get me wrong, I'm not overly knocking them -- I make plenty of boneheaded decisions all the time. I'm sure you do too!

Here's what went down. The Philistines and the Israelites are fighting. The Philistines are winning. So the Israelites come up with this brilliant plan -- bring up the ark of the covenant from Shiloh to the camp, thinking that will make things go well.

Uh oh. Bad idea.

The short story is the Israelites get pummeled, get the ark captured, and the two wicked priests, Eli's sons, ended up dead.

What did they trust in? A box with the Lord's commandments, a staff, and some manna in it. That's not going to do a whole lot. Yeah, its some really neat stuff in there, but dudes, its still just stuff!

That got me to thinking. What kind of bogus objects of trust do we as people have for our salvation?

"We're Methodists." Or Baptists, or Presbyterians, or Lutherans, or Whateverans. "Oh really? What's a Methodist?" "I don't know, but my family, we're Methodists." Yeah, sorry, that won't cut it. The Jews back in the day tried this with "We're Abraham's descendants." Same thing, different time, same result.

"I go to church." You know I asked one of Novalee's former teachers if she knew Jesus before. She said she went to church, if that's what I'm asking. No lady, that's not what I was asking! Going to church and knowing Jesus Christ are two different things. If you know Jesus, yes, you should go to church -- for a number of reasons. But there are plenty of seats taken up in churches today by a bunch of people who don't know Jesus Christ. That's fine too, we want people to come in the doors, hear the Word, and get saved -- but the problem is when people think they're saved just because they show up. No deal.

"I got baptized." Yeah really? When you were a baby or an adult? I'm guessing the former -- not that it matters, since baptism is an outward symbol of an inside change. There isn't some magical life saving water you can sprinkle on or get dunked in to save you from hell. There is only the living water, Jesus Christ.

"I believe in God." Well, you believe in A god. Do you believe in the one true living God, the God of the Bible? The God who made this whole universe and sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross as payment for our sins, because there is no way we could bridge the gap between him and us ourselves? That God? If that's the God you believe in and love, awesome. If you believe in some abstract concept of God like I once did, or believe in a god different than the one revealed in the pages of scripture, you believe in nothing -- worse than nothing even, because you lie to yourself.

"I'm a good person." We could spend a while on this, but I don't want to. The short answer of what the Bible teaches on this is, no, you're not. Period. Ain't none of us good. Jesus said the only one that is good is God. Funny thing about that. Jesus is God, and Jesus is good. Anyway, since none of us are good, guess what? None of us are going to heaven because of our "good works" either!

I'm sure this list could go on, but this post is getting quite long already. The point here is, trust Jesus Christ for your salvation. That he died on a cross to pay the price for your sins. You can't pay that price, ever. You come to Christ with that drilled into your heart, he'll do the rest regarding whatever other junk in your life needs some fixing. Real stuff. That deep down sometimes scary spiritual stuff. He'll also give you stuff to do to further his kingdom and point people to him.. It's awesome!


Grace and Peace friends.

I Stand By The Door

My uncle, brother, and friend sent me this poem. It's most excellent.

I stand by the door, I neither go too far in nor stay too far out.

The door is the most important door in the world.

It is the door through which men walk when they find God.

There is no use my going way inside and staying there when so many are still outside and they as much as I crave to know where the door is.

And all that so many find is only the wall where the door ought to be.

They creep along the wall like blind men with outstretched groping hands feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door, yet they never find it.

So I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world is for men to find that door, the door to God.

The most important thing that any man or woman can do is to take hold of one of those blind groping hands and put it on the latch, the latch that only clicks and opens to the man’s own touch.

Men die outside the door as starving beggars die on cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter, die for want of what is within their grasp.

They live on the other side of it, live because they’ve not found it.

Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it and open it and walk in and find Him.

So I stand by the door.

I admire the people that go way in but I wish they would not forget how it was before they got in.

Then they would be able to help the people who have not yet even found the door.

Or the people who want to run away again from God.

You can go in too deeply and stay in too long and forget the people outside the door.

As for me I shall take my old accustomed place, near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there but not so far from men as to hear them and remember that they are there too.

Where?

Outside the door.

Thousands of them, millions of them.

But more important for me, one of them, two of them, ten of them, whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.

So I shall stand by the door and wait for those who seek it.

I had rather be a door keeper.

So I stand by the door.

- Sam Schumaker

"I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture" - John 10:9

Grace and Peace

You And Your Household

I love the account from the middle to the end of Acts 16, for a few reasons. There's a particular part of it that has more meaning to me these days than it has in the past. I'll share that in a minute, but first, here's the gist of the account.

Paul and Silas are in Phillipi. A slave girl with a spirit of divination (future telling) ends up following them around crying out about them. Paul finally gets fed up with her and casts out the demon. This is bad news for the slave girl's masters, because they were using her to make money. This ends up causing a ruckus; Paul and Silas get attacked, beaten, and thrown in jail. An earthquake busts up the jail so prisoners can escape, but Paul and Silas don't run away. They hang around and are used to convert the surprised jailer, telling him "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

Awesome story.

One thing I think is interesting is that Paul doesn't cast the demon out of the girl right away. That has some implications of its own I think, but that's now what has more meaning to me these days. Rather, its the last line, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

First, let's clear something up, because this trips some people up. You're not saved because of who you know, unless its Jesus Christ. Your mom's faith doesn't save you. Your dad's faith doesn't save you. Your brother or sister's faith doesn't save you. Each person's own relationship, or lack of it, with God through Christ is what saves them or condemns them.

That said, I look at that verse in the context of my own life and can only respond with praise and thanksgiving that I was saved at a time when my children were/are young enough to have a meaningful impact on their spiritual life and worldview.

What did my home look like before God saved me? There was no Bible reading or teaching that I am aware of. There was no church attendance despite the longing in my wife's heart, due to my own sinful stubbornness. There were no acts of serving the Lord by serving others. There was no mealtime or bedtime prayer. There was no desire to separate from the public school system and its exclusion of God and promotion of evolutionary nonsense. The list could go on, but I think you get the point!

After God saved me and transformed my heart and mind, various things in our home changed over time to be more focused on what the Lord would have us do. Now, don't get me wrong here -- this is not my doing for which I claim any credit. I am simply pointing out that Jamie and I needed to be of common mind and common focus when it comes to raising our children to know, love, and serve the Lord. That couldn't possilby happen when I was in bondage to sin and thinking I loved it.

In the context of the Phillipian jailer, I'm not sure exactly what Paul meant by his statement, but I can certainly see in my own life how the things of God begin to take over once the parents in the home are both committed to Christ and to raising godly children. So, for any similar type of situation, I can certainly understand how one could legitimately say to one or both parents "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

It is my prayer for any lost family and friends out there tonight, especially parents of young children, that they investigate the claims of Christianity, come to know the truth, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ while they can still be a great influence on the lives of their kids!

Grace and Peace

The Primary Issue

I've observed something and learned something over time. Sometimes believers can get overly concerned about the behavior of non-believers. I can understand this, especially when the overt practicing of sin makes it more difficult to instill a proper worldview in my children or when other, particularly innocent, people get hurt as a result.

But when we get to the point where we challenge an unbeliever's actions or moral perspective only, maybe pointing out they don't line up with the Bible, I think we do the gospel a disservice. Think about the effect that has. What does it say to someone? I think the main thing it says is "You get to heaven by your own efforts in being good, but you're screwing it up." This inevitably leads to a response of "You just want to use that book to control how I live. Screw that."

Bummer. That's not the message. Behavior is a secondary issue. Yes, its important. Yes, the Bible tells us how we should live. However, that doesn't matter one bit for the person that hasn't dealt with the primary issue! And the primary issue is in the heart of man. We don't live up to our own standards, let alone God's infinitely higher ones. Changing our behavior on our own terms isn't going to help fix that. The only things that will help fix it is 1) agreeing with God's analysis of our condition -- we're broken sinful people that can't earn our way into his favor and 2) accepting his solution to the problem by placing our faith in Jesus Christ, recognizing that on the cross he took the punishment for our sins, paying a debt we could never pay.

So, for unbelievers who live together and are not married, there is only one solution

For unbelievers who practice homosexuality, there is only one solution.

For unbelievers who condone abortion, there is only one solution.

For unbelievers who railroad God out of school, there is only one solution.

For unbelievers who drunk themselves stupid every night, there is only one solution.

For unbelievers who waste their lives on trivial pursuits, there is only one solution.

The list could go on, but the one solution to all the bad behaviors we tend to get vocal about, and more, is Christ crucified. Period. That's it. We don't get our actions right and then come to Christ. Rather, we take care of the primary issue by coming to Christ as we are, in humility and faith, and then letting him do the cleaning up from the inside out -- bogus behavior on the outside vanishes when we have a new heart on the inside that wants nothing more than to live for Christ!

Grace and Peace

Jesus Christ, Problem Solver

I wrote a little while back about Jesus being "the way" and not "a way". I want to revisit that, because I love the way it was put by a man interviewed in the "Case for Faith" video by Lee Strobel: "Jesus is the only way because he's the only one who solved the problem."

Absolutely. Wait, what problem?

The problem of sin. In other words, not doing what God wants us to do -- not living up to his standards. Heck, we don't even live up to our own standards of how we want to be, let alone God's much higher ones. That's not just something we pull out of the Bible, its obvious in our daily lives. We have innate feelings about what is right and what is wrong in many situations. Often we want to do what we know is the right thing, yet we choose to do the wrong thing anyway and then we feel bad about it. Sometimes we purposefully choose the wrong thing and think we are happy about that choice, but we still know we chose the wrong thing.

That's one aspect of sin, and its our biggest problem.

Why? Well, look what it does. It wrecks relationships. When we choose to do the wrong thing, we hurt people directly or indirectly, and the relationships with the people we've hurt are weakened or destroyed completely. Maybe we think we don't care about those relationships. That's an excuse, because if we look deep down, we all know that we should care about other people because it is right to do so.

Not only does sin wreck our relationship with each other, it wrecks our relationship with God.

To see this pretty easily whether you believe the Bible or not, just think of it from a parent/child point of view. Jamie and I are parents. We're bigger and stronger and wiser than our kids. We're in charge of the home, not the kids. So say one girls starts doing something they know inside is wrong and ends up hurting the other. Do you think we're going to let that slide? Heck no. Is everything just peachy keen between my girls and I at home at that time? Heck no. She's busted and goes to timeout at a minimum. There has to be justice.

Now, here's the kicker. There's no external action she can take to fix it. Being nice for the rest of the day won't do it. Making me cookies won't do it, despite how much I like cookies. Excusing her actions and arguing about it certainly won't do it. No, the relationship is only good to go again when she realizes she's done wrong and fesses up to it -- and then I as a parent, out of love, extend forgiveness to her. Justice gives way to mercy.

And so it is with us and God. But that's where the analogy ends. Take what we have as parents -- standards, just consequences for violating them, love, mercy, forgiveness, and so on -- and extend them out to infinity. Now what do you have? You have a perfect God with perfect standards who is perfectly just and perfectly merciful. That's another problem from one point of view. You've got the perfect justice of God who will in the end punish all wrongdoers -- and we are all wrongdoers. And you've got the perfect mercy of God who will forgive all wrongdoers who come to him in repentance -- humbly recognizing their state as sinners who cannot be right with him on their own terms, desiring to turning away from their sins to him and receive forgiveness.

How do you resolve these two opposing traits of perfect justice and perfect mercy? We can't, but God can. That's where Jesus comes in. He is God become a man, the God-man if you will -- come to earth to die on a cross as a payment for our sins. In other words, he didn't just experience the physical pain of crucifixion itself -- he bore the full weight of the punishment for all our sins himself. In one act he satisfied the perfect justice of God and showed us the perfect mercy of God. No man could ever do anything that, so God took care of it himself.

That is why Jesus is the one who solved the problem, and the only one who ever could solve it. That is why Jesus is the only name under heaven by which men can be saved. That is why we all need to turn to him, trust in him, and ask him to come live in us and change us from the inside out.

Grace and Peace

God And Suffering?

Life is very hard at times, but God’s got our back.

God loves us. Don’t be fooled into thinking that God is not loving because of the trials we face. What parent does not allow their child to suffer a little to prepare him for what is to come? A young child does not understand why a doctor gives him a painful shot, yet it is for his own good. It is the same with the suffering that God allows us to experience. We don’t understand it at the time – and maybe we never will in this age. We just need to trust, just like a child, that God knows what he is doing when he allows us to face difficulty and pain in life.

God gets our pain. Whatever pain we may be going through, God understands it. The fullness of God dwelt in his Son Jesus Christ. He endured hunger, thirst, temptation, shame, persecution, nakedness, bereavement, betrayal, mockery, injustice, and death. On top of that, he also bore God’s wrath against sin on the cross so that we don’t have to face it ourselves. That is the ultimate in suffering! God doesn’t just understand our suffering from a distance; he experienced more of it firsthand than we ever will, and He knows deeply about whatever it is we face in life.

God gives us hope. Man’s abuse of the free choice God gave us – sin – brought, and continues to bring, suffering in this world, which in turn lets us see and experience the horrible effects of sin. But there is immeasurable hope to be found in the cross of Jesus Christ. He conquered sin and death, and, as God’s eternal Son, he’s the only one capable of doing so. Through Christ, God gives us a way to be free from the power of sin in our lives today and free from the presence of sin in the world to come. Apart from Christ, there is no hope.

God shows us grace. Really we deserve nothing from God. We’re His creatures, and we’re sinners who fall short of His glory. We deserve nothing, yet, despite whatever pain is in our lives in this age, we still have life and breath and many other good things. We deserve nothing, yet we will have everlasting joy if we are in Christ. That begins with sincerely admitting we are sinners incapable of saving ourselves, truly believing Jesus Christ died on the cross as payment for our sins, and really choosing to turn away from our sin and follow Him.

He lives, he loves, he understands, and he offers the greatest gift in the world, free of charge. God rocks.

Grace and Peace

The Way

Props to Brian Broderson for his exposition on John 14:6 that led to this post.

There are plenty of destinations in which there is only one way to get there. Heaven is one of them, for Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He didn't say "a way," he said "the way," period.

Now this idea that Jesus is the only way to heaven makes a lot of people mad. Many think Christians are narrow minded for believing this. Well, then, I suppose we are. If being open minded means denying what the Bible says or not believing it, then narrow minded is the correct choice. But let's at least give a good reason for that choice instead of reiterating the bold statement and leaving it there, as if we're trying to exclude people from God's kingdom.

Look at the history side of it. Jesus isn't just some fast talking carpenter dude who showed up 2000 years ago and said "hey everybody, jump on my bandwagon." No way. He came in fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecy prior to being born on earth, and he came for a specific purpose.

With that in mind, go all the way back the beginning, to the first man and woman. God created mankind to be in fellowship with him. He gave that first pair of people a specific command to follow, told them the consequences of disobeying, and they blew it. That's the sort of thing that happens when you give people choice instead of making them robots. So this one act brought sin into the world and sin brought death into the world. No worries, God promised a redeemer who would come and deal with this quite large problem. The Biblical record shows the line of that redeemer get narrowed down to Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Judah, and king David. Years later, Jesus, of the line of David, is born on earth. He is the redeemer promised to the first man and woman so long ago.

What about his purpose in coming? That first pair of people sinned. That's bad. Fellowship with God was broken. They felt shame for their sin, as shown by their reaction to their nakedness that they hadn't noticed before. They attempted to cover their shame with sewed together leaves, but that wouldn't do. God instead clothed them with the skins of animals, showing that blood had to be shed to cover sin. That theme of atonement for sin wove its way into so many ancient cultures in different ways for so long until foolish philosophies like atheism showed up. Why? Because it goes all the way back to the first man and woman. Its wired in us. In the line of people from which our redeemer was to come, there was a priesthood setup where animals were sacrificed to cover the sins of the people so the could be in fellowship with God -- a lesson to show that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. The final act of atonement took place when Jesus, God incarnate, willingly gave his life up on the cross.

This is why there is one way. Jesus, and only Jesus, is the one and only promised redeemer who dealt with sin himself, restoring our fellowship with God. Through him, all can be saved, and those who come to him in repentance, are.

Grace and Peace

What Has God Done For You?

In Jesus' earthly ministry, there was an incident where he came upon a demon possessed man. The demons begged Jesus not to cast them into the abyss, but rather to send them into a herd of pigs. Jesus did this, and then the pigs ran off the edge of a cliff. I guess they should have thought their request through a little more.

The man who was possessed was sitting up and in his right mind after that. The people nearby were scared -- except for the no longer possessed man who thought that was pretty awesome and wanted to go with Jesus. Jesus wouldn't let him but instead told him to go tell people what God had done for him.

For followers of Jesus Christ, those words might as well have been spoken today. Go brothers and sisters and tell people what God has done for you, because the testimony of an individual is a powerful thing indeed! Its more than just head knowledge of the Bible -- its an actual person's account of the transformation that has occurred in his/her life.

What God has done for me is that he opened my eyes to the reality of sin in this world and how messed up it is, that one day the world will be judged, that Jesus is the son of the living God, that his atoning sacrifice on the cross paid the price for my sins, and that I desperately needed to turn away from sin to Jesus -- accepting him as savior and making him lord of my life.

What God has done for me is cast out the demons of pornography addiction, video game addiction, and anxiety and smashed the false idols of children, spouse, sex, work, control, car, entitlement, and so many more. What God has done for me is transform my heart and mind from the inside out, and he did it overnight the day I got on my knees and cried out to Jesus to save me, a hopeless sinner.

Praise God for his work in my life!

Through Jesus Christ, what has God done for you? What demons has he removed? Alcoholism? Drug addiction? Sex addiction? Food addiction? Self pity? Pride? Depression? Anger? What relationships has he restored? Marriage? Kids? Family? Friends? What has he healed you from? What has he given to you? In what specific way has he delivered you from bondage to give you a fuller, more abundant life?

The answers across the body of believers number as many as the stars in the sky, but the instruction to all is the same -- now go, and tell what God has done for you.

Grace and Peace

Our Lord Jesus Christ

There's a phrase Paul used often in his letters, roughly "grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ." I want to focus on that last part, OUR Lord Jesus Christ, because its kind of important. In fact it is of the utmost importance, as it goes along with the question of "who is this?" referring to Jesus Christ -- a key question to answer during our time here under the sun.

I heard someone preach on this some time ago and intended to write about it, but largely forgot until prompted further today by the Spirit after having encountered some Jehovah's Witnesses earlier in the day and having ample free time on my hands before I go to bed.

There are many people who claim some knowledge of Jesus Christ. There are many, not as much, who claim to follow Jesus Christ. But there is a difference between the Jesus some follow and the real Jesus. We need to be following the real Jesus, not some imaginary one, so let's review some facts about who Jesus Christ is NOT.

The Lord Jesus Christ is not a created being, Satan's brother, Michael the archangel, just a teacher, just a philosopher, just a spiritual being without a physical body, just a prophet, and so on. The Lord Jesus Christ is not some hippie type dude preaching only peace and love to all, and whatever that means to you is okay. The Lord Jesus Christ did not avoid death on the cross -- but he didn't stay dead either.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God, fully God and fully man -- the God-man if you will. He is the only one that can make the perfect justice of God and the perfect mercy of God make any sense -- God himself taking on the form of a man, suffering, and dying on the cross to take our place as a payment for sins, and rising again on the third day. He is the only one that bridges the gap between man and God the Father. No one other than God in the flesh could accomplish such a feat.

If this doesn't describe the Jesus you follow, then you are following a false Jesus. The Bible says that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and we are warned about false Christs and false gospels. For those in Christ, any attention to these Jesus imposters lead us away from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Make sure that you follow the Jesus who loved us so much he gave up his glory in heaven to come to earth, dwell among us, and suffer and die for us. This is the Jesus we know when we say "OUR Lord Jesus Christ."

Grace and peace

We Need To Fall In Love

You know what we need to do, if we haven't already? We need to fall in love. Not with another human. Not with a hobby. Not with a job. Not with food. Not with any person or thing on or of the earth we typically use the phrase "I'm in love with..." whether it is rightly applied or not. We need to fall in love with the one who loves us so much, he gave his only son so our relationship with him could be restored. We need to fall in love with the one who loves us so much that he willing suffered and died on a cross so that we might be saved if we put our faith in him. We need to fall in love with our great and glorious God, creator of the universe, and author of life.

Why? The answer is simple. He deserves it simply because he is God. Period. We need no greater reason, not that there is one. He loves us so much, has given us so much, and offers us so much more, its incredible.

But what do we do so often? Take his blessings for granted. Take credit for the good he does through us or for the gifts he has giving us. Call stuff "ours" instead of his. Claim control over "our" lives instead of acknowledging his sovereignty. Pick and choose which parts of his word we want to hear and follow without giving it full authority in our lives. Show up to church once a week, sing a few songs, listen to a message, and walk out of there maybe feeling uplifted, maybe feeling entertained, but not really feeling the joy of a full life that God Almighty has to offer us. Not really getting it.

Shame on us whenever we do crap like that.

The first and greatest commandment is to love the LORD with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our strength. We're supposed to love God with everything we got, not just our leftovers. God doesn't want lukewarm, half hearted love. God wants our best.

Our best starts with acknowledging who he is, and who we are compared to him. Our best starts with giving his word authority in our lives and following it. Jesus said "if you love me, you will keep my commandments". If we say we love God but don't do what his word says, living like the world, we are liars who don't really love God or know him. This means repentance. This means not sleeping with your boyfriend/girlfriend before getting married. This means not getting drunk. This means not gossiping about others. This means controlling our anger and our tongues. This means forgiving when we are wronged and not holding grudges against others. This means putting Christ at the center of our lives, making him Lord as well as Savior -- you can't have the latter without the former.

So if we're not putting God's word in its proper place of authority in our lives, and if we have not repented of our sins and turned away from the fully into the waiting arms of Jesus Christ, what should we do with these other things? Don't bother, until we get right with God. If we're not deeply in love with him and showing it, he doesn't want our half baked offerings and worship songs that amount to lies. He doesn't want our service that means nothing without a real relationship with him. What he wants is us, fully and completely. Let's give him THAT, first.

Grace and Peace brothers, sisters, friends.

Buying A Slave

I've got the "Abraham" movie on and just witnessed a really great scence. Abraham and his band come across a traveler in the desert who is headed in the opposite direction to Haran. A small group shows up soon after, saying that the man is a slave who has run away from his master, and they are there to take him back.

Abraham values the mans life very much and has compassion on him. He tells the leader of the small group that he would like to buy the slave's freedom, despite being told that the cost is high. He walks over with his money and puts some coins in the leader's hand. The hand remains outstretched, wanting more. When satisfied, the group leaves.

The slave is, of course, thrilled with his freedom, but that is not the end of it. Abraham tells him to seek out his brother when he arrives, as he may have work for an educated man. The former slave tells Abraham that there is no way he can ever repay him. Needless to say, he is incredibly grateful.

The movie makers took some liberty, as they often do, but I love this scene. What a beautiful picture of Christ -- leaving his glory in heaven to come to earth with us. Why? To pay a price for our sin that we cannot pay. When we finally realize our sinful state and run away from it into the waiting arms of Christ, we find out what love and freedom really are.

Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice on the cross and the new life and freedom you offer! May all who don't know you come to realize the truth of the gospel.

Grace and Peace